Laurence Shankland: Rangers are set to sign the Hearts captain and Scotland forward

Rangers chairman Andrew Cavenagh spoke last Sunday of the need for club leaders, ideally Scottish leaders, and bare-knuckle professionals.

He never mentioned Lawrence Shankland but almost didn’t need to. He was describing everything about the striker. Rangers aren’t particularly short of goals – they outscored Celtic and Hearts in the Premiership heading into the season – but they need steel and presence and Shankland provides that.

It was clear on Friday that things were moving quickly. It’s not certain yet – he hasn’t signed yet and still has a medical to complete – but things are quickly going in the right direction, if not from Hearts’ point of view, then from Rangers’ point of view.

Shankland is returning from holiday and a final deal seems imminent. Pending any departures he will join Youssef Chermiti, Ryan Naderi, Bojan Miovski and Danilo as substitutes for Dani Rohl. It is unlikely that they will all be Rangers players at the start of the season. Shankland, if it did, would be the main man.

People with knowledge of the talks discuss what Rangers are paying Hearts for Shankland. Neither side are comfortable talking about a supposed break clause in Shankland’s Hearts contract that would allow him to leave for nothing, a scenario that will no doubt further anger Hearts fans.

Losing their captain and leading scorer is bad enough but losing him for little or no money can be considered an insult to add to the injury. At the moment, the phrases being used are ‘undisclosed fee’ and ‘Rangers have paid the required amount’.

Shankland has an excellent record for Hearts against Rangers, scoring both in a 2-0 win at Ibrox in September, winners against them both in December and at Tynecastle in May.

He scored against Rangers in a 3–3 draw in May 2024 and scored in a 3–1 loss and a 2–1 loss in November and October 2023. He is Hearts’ top scorer since the great John Robertson.

Shankland scored 20 goals for Derek McInnes’ side in their near-glory season, part of which he missed through injury. He is pushing hard to start for Scotland in their World Cup opener against Haiti.

For McInnes, it will come as a bitter blow. Shankland and Hearts were somewhat at a standstill at the end of the 2024–25 season, with a long-running dispute over pay between the club and the player’s representatives threatening to end him at Tynecastle.

When McInnes was appointed manager, one of the main items on his list was to keep Shankland. He insisted he needed the striker and a deal was struck. McInnes and Shankland worked well together. Those days seem to be over. Rangers will take a beating from Shankland as a summer signing.